"Baby, I know places we won't be found

And they'll be chasing their tails tryin' to track us down

Cause I, I know places we can hide

I know places "

-

The secret lair turned out to be their basement which was transformed into a boy's wonderland.

There was a billiard table, a foosball table, a dart board, and what looked like a video game machine. There was a flat screen television hanging on the wall and different game consoles neatly arranged in the cabinet beneath the TV.

At the corner of the room was a small refrigerator which I bet was full of alcoholic drinks. At the far left side was a state of the art computer set.

Hunter had three led monitors that sat on an alien looking glow in the dark fiberglass table, which to my amazement, was also the CPU. Even with my limited knowledge of modern technology, I could say that Hunter's computer set was way more advance than what an average teenage boy needed; just some perks of being a legalized hacker.

Hunter sat on the recliner in front of the computer and turned on the CPU which was a relief since we only had about five minutes before my doom. I grabbed one of the chairs sitting around and placed it beside him, careful to put some distance between us just in case he felt like being on his killer mode again.

"What's Yamamoto's e-mail address?" He asked without glancing at my direction, his fingers rapidly typing complicated codes in a system I wasn't familiar with.

" He's using our school's e-mail portal." I mumbled. I was hopeful Hunter could easily hack Kenji's account since he had successfully hacked our school portal in the past.

"Hmmm.." was his only answer.

There was a charming smile playing on his lips and I could see the dimples on his cheeks. Really, the boy was such an eye candy, it was annoying.

I didn't want to admit it but Hunter looked really cool when he was on his hacker mode. He had this serious look on his face which I found mesmerizing. He looked so confident and at ease in front of that particular electronic gadget, like he could conquer the world with just a click of his mouse... which he probably would if the CIA let him loose.

"This is probably the worst love letter I have ever read." said Hunter before he exploded into laughter. To my embarrassment, he was reading my e-mail to Kenji! I almost hit him with the throw pillow near me.

"That is so not a love letter! Didn't you read the disclaimer at the beginning?" I exclaimed, blood rushing through my cheeks because of my utter humiliation.

Great! Another thing that Hunter could use to blackmail me. Just exactly what I needed. This was definitely not my day.

"Looks like a love letter to me." He said, still laughing like a maniac.

"Oh, for God's sake! Stop reading, it's private!"

"Alright, alright. You're so grumpy." He pouted.

Thankfully, he proceeded to delete the e-mail but only after he finished reading the whole letter. Jerk.

"Done." He said proudly right after pressing the delete key.

I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He rotated the recliner so he could face me.

"Once again, Hunter saved the day." He said obnoxiously.

Whatever.

"Thank you." I just said, not knowing what else to say.

"Sure thing. Just don't forget our deal." He winked.

I got up from the chair and tried not to look as awkward as I felt.

"Right. Um, I better get going." I stumbled as I stepped backwards. I didn't plan to stay there any longer.

"Thank you. Again. And uhm, sorry for disturbing you."

His lips curled into a lazy smile.

"Are you always that awkward?"

"Ah, yeah. I think so." I could feel my cheeks burning from his intense gaze. What's up with his creepy, mesmerizing eyes?

He stood up and slowly walked towards me.

"Can I give you an advice, Skylar?" He said while crossing the distance between us. I was taken aback when I hear him utter my name for the first time. It sounded sensual coming from his lips.

There was something in his eyes that made all of my instincts scream: trouble!

I shrugged nervously.

He smirked and bent towards me, his cheek gently brushing mine as he leaned closer to whisper to my ear.

"If you're going to be hanging out with Lucifer reincarnated," he said, his minty breath fanning the side of my neck, "you need to loosen up a little, babe."

I shuddered as goosebumps ran on the skin of my arms.

Shit! I forgot I called him Lucifer reincarnated in that e-mail! Was he planning to get back on me for that?

I took a step back, my heart hammering like crazy.

"O-okay! Thanks for the advice!"I blurted out. I wanted to punch myself for sounding like a total dork.

I rushed towards the stairs that led to the living room without ever looking back at Hunter.

I was outside their house when the weight of what just happened finally dawned on me.

I would be the devil's assistant starting Monday.

I was so screwed.

****

"That's awesome!" Shawn exclaimed as soon as I told him about the deal I made with the devil a.k.a. Hunter.

It was Saturday night and I begged him to meet me at The Fudge, the local ice cream parlor in our town.

I was honestly losing my mind. Several times, I was tempted to barge in Hunter's house and beg him to think of another deal that wouldn't involve me getting within his ten mile radius.

But of course, my pride kept me from breaking my promise. I'd like to think of myself as an honorable woman who always stood by her words. Why did I have to be such a pain in my own ass? Beats me.

"Nothing's awesome about it, Shawn." I grumbled as I took a spoonful of my choco-banana ice cream. "You realize being Hunter's buddy means throwing away my invisibility cloak, right?"

"That's what's awesome about it! You're going to be Hunter's buddy! I'll gladly trade places with you!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah sure. Now I'll be exposed to the horrors of high school's proverbial food chain. Great, just great."

Shawn sniggered.

"Aren't you being overly dramatic?"

"Nope, I'm just doing what we teenagers do best: whine about something."

He gave me a sympathetic tap on the shoulder.

"Well, to make you feel better, I think you're going straight up to the top of the food chain because Hunter and his friends are the gods of Diamond Crest. No one will dare cross you as long as you're under Hunter's protection." He said then took a bite off of his vanilla ice cream sandwich.

"Who says Hunter will protect me? I think he only thinks of me as a temporary replacement for Rush, someone he can play with while he's looking for another more interesting toy."

Shawn shook his head.

"You're so judgmental." He said while giving me the stink eye. "Give the guy the benefit of the doubt, will you? Hunter is a good guy."

I pointed my spoon at him.

"You're only saying that because he gave you his deck of Magic: The gathering cards."

Shawn abruptly stood up from his seat and looked at me as if I was Hitler reincarnated.

"Are you kidding me? That deck has ten super rare cards that cost hundreds of dollars! It's my most prized possession!" He cried, looking like a little kid on the verge of an epic tantrum.

I raised my hand as a gesture of surrender.

"Alright, alright! Fine! I get it! Hunter good. Sky bad. Now take a seat before everyone thinks we're having a lover's quarrel."

Shawn went back to seat right after giving me a disappointed look.

His bromance with Hunter was getting really disturbing.

Hunter gave him the deck before he went to DC. Shawn almost wet himself when Hunter unexpectedly approached him at his locker and gave him the deck. They weren't even on speaking terms before that. Hunter just said that Shawn looked like someone who loves to play cards before shoving the deck inside Shawn's open locker. And that was how Shawn became Hunter's number one fan.

I was about to say something when I heard my phone ringing.

I took it out of my pocket and saw an unknown number displayed on the screen.

Curious, I accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, buddy."

I froze when I heard that somewhat familiar, husky voice. Holy shit.

"Who's this?"

Please don't be who I think you are; please don't be who I think you are...

I chanted silently.

"Hunter."

Well, damn!

I gave Shawn a panicked look.

"Who's that?" he mouthed.

"Hunter!" I mouthed back.

"Yo, still there?" I heard Hunter said on the other line.

"Y-yes! What do you want?" I asked nervously. Whatever it was that he wanted, I was one hundred and one percent sure that I wouldn't like it.

"Where are you?" he asked instead of answering my question.

"I'm at The Fudge."

I should've told him I was at the house having a severe diarrhea or something, but I wasn't really good at lying. I would only put myself in trouble with Mr. Troublemaker himself if he found out I was only making things up to avoid him.

"Stay there. I'm going to pick you up in fifteen minutes." He ordered.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"I need to go somewhere and I need a buddy." He said amidst the hum of a car engine on the background.

"But I'm with someone! I can't just leave him here and go with you!" I protested.

"You can go with him. It's perfectly fine with me!" Shawn said, loud enough to be heard on the other line. The traitor!

For a supposedly best friend, he seemed so eager to throw me to the wolves!

"Well that's settled then. See you in a few." and with that, Hunter ended the call.

I gave Shawn a murderous look.

"Can I kick your ass just one time, please?"

He just laughed at my expression.

"That's what you get for underestimating the importance of having an amazing deck of Magic: The Gathering cards."

He then proceeded to eat the rest of his ice cream sandwich, looking pleased with himself.

I spent the next few minutes freaking out. Where would Hunter take me? Was he about to make me a look out while he was off robbing a bank or doing some other illegal stuff?

After awhile, I felt Shawn tapped me on the shoulder. He pointed at the parking lot which we could see clearly from the glass window on the left side of where we sat.

I saw Hunter's chevy parked on an empty parking space.

"I think you should go out and meet him there." Shawn suggested.

I didn't argue because The Fudge was jam-packed with customers at the moment and some of them were Diamond Crest High's students. If they saw Hunter talking to me, I was sure the gossips would start right after we left the Fudge. I wanted to postpone that inevitability at least until Monday.

"What about you?" I asked Shawn. We used his car going here so I guessed I didn't have any other choice but to ride shotgun in Hunter's car.

"Uhm, I'm just going to stay here for a while. Chill out for a little longer."

For some unknown reasons, Shawn blushed. He sneaked a peak at the table on our right side where a cute girl in a ponytail was sitting alone, reading a hardbound copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I couldn't help but smile.

Shawn was crushing on a potterhead! I approved!

"Okay. Better get this over with." I took a deep breath and glanced at the window again. I saw Hunter got out of his car.

I quickly said goodbye to Shawn and ran outside before Hunter could enter the creamery.

I bumped into him near the entrance. I grabbed his hand and dragged him towards his car without any greetings whatsoever. I just wished everyone inside was too busy to even look at the windows or else the news about Hunter holding hands with some unknown girl would be a worldwide trending topic on Twitter tonight.

"Get in quick!" I ordered as soon as we reached his car before he could say a word.

He gave me a confused look but he unlocked his car and climbed inside.

"Can you tell me what was that all about?" He said as soon as I was seated on the passenger seat of his car.

I shrugged.

"I figured if you're doing something illegal tonight, I'd better not have any witnesses who can testify that I was with you prior to the time of the incident."

Hunter stared at me blankly for five seconds before he burst out laughing.

There was something enchanting about the way he laughs that made me unable to take my eyes off him.

He was beautiful.

God, does this man even have a bad angle? I thought grudgingly.

"That was funny." He said, wiping his eyes off tears from laughing.

"I'm glad you find me hilarious." I said sarcastically.

"Unfortunately, we won't be doing anything illegal tonight."

"You sounded disappointed."

"Nah. We'll get to the illegal stuff some other day, but not tonight." He smirked as he turned on the stereo of his car and blasted some indie rock music.

I frowned. I was never a fan of rock music. I was more of a mellow and RnB kind of girl. Loud music made my head aches.

"Not a fan of Rock music, are you?" I heard Hunter say as he started the car.

I shrugged.

"Your car, your music."

I respected his choice of music, but it didn't mean I also have to like it.

"Do you want me to play some Justin Bieber song?" He teased.

I gave him the stink eye.

"No, thank you. I think I'll stick with this one."

"That's my girl." Hunter murmured; his eyes at the rearview mirror as he backed out of the parking lot.

"So, where are we going?" I asked as soon as we hit the road.

"Somewhere we can be alone."

I jolted on my seat when I heard what he just said.

"A-alone? Why do you want to be alone with me?"

I sounded so ridiculously scared even to my own ears that I wasn't surprised when Hunter snickered beside me.

"Relax. I won't kill you."

I grimaced.

"Thanks! That made me feel so much better."

"Anything for my buddy." He flashed me a mischievous grin that made me feel a lot of things except feel reassured.

He pressed a button on the stereo to turn down the music, which secretly pleased me since his music was like a root canal to my brain.

We stayed quiet for the rest of the drive. Hunter looked like he was concentrating hard on the road which he'd better be since it seemed like the road we were taking went upward. I didn't dare ask any further questions for the fear of him kicking me out of the car.

"We're here." He declared after driving like he was shooting a fast and furious movie for thirty minutes straight.

I gasped when I finally realized where we were. We must be parked in the highest point in town because I could see the rest of our small town below with all of its flickering lights glory.

Hunter got out of the car and opened the door for me.

"Er, thanks." I said as I stepped out of the car.

He walked towards the edge of the cliff and sat on the ground. He tapped the space beside him so I sat down as well.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said, looking at the scenery below us.

I just nodded, still stunned by the view.

Everything looked so small and insignificant from where we sat. I could see the lights from every houses and different establishments, as well as the flickering lights from the cars passing down the roads. Our little town looked like one big gem shining amidst the darkness of the night. Maybe that was why it was called Diamond Crest.

It was magical.

"This is my secret place. I go here whenever I want to relax or think of an awesome prank." I heard him say, soft wind playing with his hair.

"It looks amazing. I've never been here before." I said, still in awe. I couldn't believe Hunter took me somewhere beautiful. I really thought we were going to break some laws tonight.

"I'm glad you like it. But I didn't take you here just to admire the view."

I looked at him, frowning.

"Why did you take me here then?"

He took out two small bars of Hershey out of the pocket of his jeans and offered one to me.

"Well, since we're going to be buddies starting Monday, don't you think it's just right for us to get to know each other a little better?"

"Oh."

That actually made sense.

My teacher once said that all of us had to face our fear sometime in our lives in order for us to become better versions of ourselves.

Just my luck, I wasn't only facing my fear right now, I was also about to get up-close and personal with him. Fanfreakingtastic.